NSW: Concerns raised about taxpayer funded ads in NSW

AAP General News (Australia)
12-09-2009
NSW: Concerns raised about taxpayer funded ads in NSW

SYDNEY, Dec 9 AAP - Strict new rules are needed on state government advertising amid
concerns recent campaigns could be seen as serving party political interests, the NSW
auditor-general says.

Auditor-General Peter Achterstraat has raised concerns over two taxpayer funded advertisements
run by the NSW government over the last year.

In one of the advertisements, promoting cadetships in the NSW public sector, a silhouette
of young people jumping was replaced by a picture of then premier Nathan Rees.

The other ad, about the NSW government's $62.9 billion infrastructure spend creating
160,000 jobs could also be viewed as "misleading", Mr Achterstraat said.

He said while the program, titled Better Futures, was creating that many jobs, not
all of them would be located in NSW.

Members of the Mr Rees' staff were also found to have made "key decisions" in the advertisements,
which were meant to be non-political campaigns, Mr Achterstraat said.

In response to these two ads he is calling for changes to be made around the monitoring
of government advertising.

Mr Achterstraat said campaigns should be subjected to strict review by someone independent
of the government.

"There are many publicly funded advertising campaigns that are a legitimate means of
keeping the public informed," Mr Achterstraat said.

"It is vital that all the campaigns be transparent and accountable and under no circumstances
serve party political interests.

"This is the least we can do to ensure that public funds are being spent appropriately."

AAP nr/evt/maur/

KEYWORD: ADVERTISING NSW

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